Parent concerned over violence in schools

BOE meeting

By Deborah Bennett Millen News Editor

Violence in school was the issue a concerned parent brought before the Jenkins County Board of Education during its Monday, Oct. 17, meeting.

Gwen Flakes, whose son suffered serious injuries in a Sept. 12 incident at Jenkins County High School (JCHS), told board members that she had a lot of unanswered questions and desired to know what the BOE was doing to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.

“This is not just about my child. I don’t want it to happen to someone else’s child. I just think that for everybody’s protection, something else needs to be done,” she said.

After hearing her remarks, Superintendent Hayward Cordy responded, “Unfortunately, we can’t anticipate every situation. We have to respond after it has occurred. We are going to deal with it very aggressively.”

Chairman Carroll Gay agreed. “Please allow us the opportunity to discuss this with the administration. We are going to do everything possible to make our schools safe for all of our students,” he said.

In other matters, Dr. Joey Kirkland, Nicole Washington, Myra Halfacre and Loretta Fleming presented a presentation on the Terry Alderman training and discipline techniques that faculty at the Jenkins County Middle School (JCMS) are utilizing to manager student behavior. The presentation included visual displays and explanations of how each was used to reinforce positive behavior in students.

Student enrollment was reported at 1,745 students, an increase of five students over last month. Enrollment in the various schools was reported as follows: JCHS, 494 students, a decrease of two; JCMS, 426 students, a decrease of two; and Jenkins County Elementary School (JCES), 825, an increase of nine.

“Jenkins County High School is showing its largest enrollment in history,” commented Superintendent Cordy.

Cordy conducted a visual presentation on the progress being made on the athletic improvement projects at JCHS and presented a timeline that predicted completion of the new gymnasium in March 2007.

Dr. Kirkland discussed the new start time of 8:10 a.m. for school at JCMS, stating that 100 percent of the students were on campus by 8:05 a.m. He also pointed out there would be a two-week grace period before students arriving after 8:10 a.m. would be counted tardy.

Other actions taken by the BOE included the following:

 rescinded a previous action awarding a bid for providing air conditioning in the new bus shop to a contractor;

 awarded a bid for providing heating and air conditioning in the new bus shop and office to D and L Heating;

 approved a bid by Nick Riley Electric to provide necessary electrical wiring in the new bus shop;

 approved a bid from Discount Builders to provide new tile for the JCES and JCHS/JCMS cafeterias; and

 approved a lease agreement of the old board of education building with Jenkins County Family Enrichment.